This week’s PWCW is notable mainly for the debut of The Loudmouth, a new, alternating column by industry professionals. Steven Grant kicks things off, writing about sexism in comics:

The big companies didn’t invent this trend, of course. Fetishizing the human body, especially in superhero comics where every hero and heroine looks like an overinflated doll, has been an accelerating trend for years, and it’s arguably unfair to criticize Marvel and DC for things smaller publishers like Avatar and Image turned into house styles years ago. (Image has since largely abandoned such things.) As far as fetishism goes, American comics are still nowhere near as fetishized as a lot of manga, which, considering the rapid encroachment of manga on their traditional markets, may be why they’re racing to catch up. But no smaller American company has anything like Marvel or DC’s saturation, and no others are corporately vying to become household names or marketing the superheroes line as one-size-fits-all cross-media entertainment. It’s a complex situation, though. Both companies maintain “adult” lines (DC has Vertigo, Marvel Max and Icon), but the pressure to “adultify” virtually all other material comes from numerous directions, and there’s the argument that they’re not doing anything other media aren’t doing, which they often use as a shield when complaints roll in.

Also: Papercutz brings back Tales from the Crypt, Simon Spurrier and artist Frazer Irving talk about Gutsville, Wendy Pini discusses her Masque of the Red Death adaptation, and Paul Pope reveals will have a THB exclusive for San Diego.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 30th, 2007 at 8:45 am and is filed under Comic Books, Independent, Industry, Internet, News & Views. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.